Is there a place in Taipei known for watches, watch repair, and watch bands. Something like Guanghua or K-mall for computers and electronics, or Chongqing for books, or Zhongshan Bei Lu for wedding dresses…
In Ximending there’s a building on the southwest corner of Xining South Road and Emei Street that’s filled with watch-related stores.
There’s a watch/clock market on Dali Street in Wanhua, near the China Times building.
Well, me and wife just went to some small shop in NeiHu which has watches and clocks in the window and they fix the wristband and de-humidify the watch for low money. 250 NT for wristband or so. So just go for any small shop and see if you can communicate.
I keep on coming back to read my own drivel here above when I am googling for “Taipei watch repair”. Well, I have an older Swiss watch (2000ish) with a nice ETA Valjoux 7750 clockwork (Automatic chronograph) and it stopped working. The local watchband/battery-changer shop with some cheap Quartz watches opened it up, fiddled a bit about and then said one part (I guess he meant in the clockwork) would be broken. He did not seem to be able to order any parts - the excuse being it would be “Swiss”. Seemingly a rather exotic origin for a watch for him; watchmaking mountain tribes are not well known in the back streets of NeiHu.
Anyways he advised me to go to the watch brand reps. That would be Breil, an Italian Swiss-made brand. Of course every watchmaker should be able to source ETA parts, as ETA has almost a monopoly on non-Asian automatics.
Breil is represented by Fossil in Taiwan, which is rather a buzz killer as Fossil has only cheapish Quartz watches. So I guess I will try a local “better” watch store which has a large selection of fake Italian Quartz watches going by the name Milano (a Taiwan brand actually) and some Rosdenton watches. Another Taiwan brand which has a selection of ETA-powered automatics as well.
I will post my experience here later in case someone ever googles “Taiwan watch repair”. My bets are: The shop will most likely only know how to source from Rosdenton and will have no idea how to gets parts for a standard ETA drive despite its rather professional appearance. Let’s see how that goes. Or will the clerk only giggle when seeing a foreigner? 
Next step would be going to a local HAMILTON rep shop. HAMILTON is ETA/swatch group as well. Visiting it, I could wear my Hamilton watch for psychological reasons.
Try this place, they fix brand watches (officially) and repaired and refurbished my 21 year old TagHeuer that had been in my cupboard for 6 years.
Why would you take a Valjoux 7750 to a local watch guy??? 
Sure BMW’s are very common but you wouldn’t take one to just any scooter mechanic would you?
This. Not the cheapest way to get things done, and not the fastest. But that’s how I got things done with an older yet still beloved Victorinox watch.
Guy
Thanks for the hints. I had been to a Formosatimes branch in NeiHu but the guy was visibly pissed off I held a broken watch in front of his face. He complained to me the crown would be broken. Almost felt guilty. Well, it is not broken, but a bit worn out but that should not be the problem as it stopped during operation. He said he cannot source the crown so he cannot fix it. His whole demeanor was so clearly anti-repairing that I left. Expected it much that way actually as the locals are usually into quick dollar for not much thinking in my opinion. One could attach another crown or the rod below it if that would be necessary actually. But he clearly did not want to deal.
I might give the Zenith place a try if I can make it during office hours or contact a watch maker from home directly.
So… now for the online evaluation via Yelp of that Formosatimes shop, he he he
This. Not the cheapest way to get things done, and not the fastest. But that’s how I got things done with an older yet still beloved Victorinox watch.
Guy[/quote]
No Breil in Taiwan and there Fossil-rep contact will not really work. Clockwork is ETA but the local official Hamilton rep (Swatch group like ETA, shop chain called Formosatimes, see post above) was really unwilling to deal with a broken watch.
Too bad. I guess the Victorinox people here take their product and reputation more seriously.
And I know what you mean when you encounter a shopkeeper utterly uninterested in your query. One time I had trouble with some leather straps on a wool coat–a pretty decent coat, and I wanted it fixed. Thinking this would be a slightly tricky job (working with leather), I went to a high end tailor on Zhongshan North Road. He didn’t quite chase me out of his shop, but his tone and message (“this is impossible!”) were quite unwelcoming. Following this setback, I went to my usual awesome local tailor in one of those wet markets with meats and fruits and all that other stuff around. She took one look at the coat, went to her sewing machine–and presto it was repaired. I think it cost me NT$20. There are some good people around but sometimes we need luck and patience and persistence to find them!
Guy
I will contact Hamilton about it too. I have a Hamilton as well and it might need servicing one day…
The watch is now in a high class shop which has Rolex and all the sweet darlings. They concluded after a 10 minute inspection my watch (the Breil Auto Chrono) would only need a full service (cleaning, oiling), which would be 8000 NT. Should have taken 2-3 weeks, yet it is now there for 6 weeks. Curious what happens first, me leaving Taiwan for good (planned in the very near future) or the watch being serviced. I understand a Breil gets low priority and all those other ticking babes need servicing too, so I guess I just have them keep it til my departure 
Hey guys, does anybody here know a good place where they replace watch batteries? Taipei area? I don’t want to do it myself because it’s for a branded watch. Don’t want to risk losing small cogs and bits inside…
Have to be a bit more specific with your location AND brand of the watch.
Pretty much any store selling watches will do it unless it’s something super pricey. “small cogs and bits” don’t fall out when you remove the cover to replace the battery.
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Anywhere near the Zhongshan area would be good. I need to replace the battery of an Emporio Armani watch so it’s not really a high-end brand.
Oh, thanks. Guess I’ll try bringing it to the mall this week.
Yes, agreed with this. It sounded like you were rocking a Rolex or something of that nature.
Here’s one I came across near ShungLian…
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Anyone know where I can get an Accutron Spaceview B (1963) serviced? I’d like to get it cleaned and replace the difficult to source 1.35V battery.